mammal nine
ANA CABALLERO
It is the child who establishes the legality of war ::
The child who begets parents
out of mere partner mere
spouse
who renders a couple
Custodial
who ends reign of mother’s
mother & father’s father
The child
who by absolute need commands its makers to reiterate this ::
Domestic clamor
of spoil
mammal twelve
ANA CABALLERO
Me breed baby be
Me eat baby sprout
Me sit baby swim
Me bend baby ball
Me stretch baby spread
Me drink baby drain
Me sleep baby kick
Me wait baby gain
Me break baby breathe
mammal thirteen
ANA CABALLERO
Father of the Year
A man walks into a bar and says:
I have it all.
The bartender looks at him, asks:
How’s that?—
The man responds:
I love my work, I love my wife, I love my children.
The bartender looks at him.
Snorts:
Why you here?—
The man:
Drinking to miss.
The bartender:
Go home.
Man:
First,
I must miss.
Ana Maria Caballero was born in Miami but grew up in Bogotá, Colombia. She studies poetry at FIU, where she was runner-up for the Academy of American Poets Prize. In 2014 her collection "Entre domingo y domingo" won Colombia's José Manuel Arango National Poetry Prize. Finishing Line Press published "Mid-life," her first chapbook, in 2016. Her nonfiction manuscript, “A Petit Mal,” won the 2020 Beverly International Prize and will be published in 2022. Her writing has appeared in numerous journals and lives online at www.anamariacaballero.com.